Posted on 09/09/2005 4:33:44 AM PDT by iowamark
Bruce Widbin headed south expecting hopelessness, misery, and desperate need.
Instead, he found Hurricane Katrina evacuees at a Red Cross disaster relief center watching big–screen TVs, shooting hoops, listening to live music and choosing between ham, roast beef or barbecued turkey.
Widbin, a Wever resident, took a charter bus Sunday to Jackson, Miss., intending to return with a full load of southerners ready to start a new life in Iowa.
But, despite promises of houses and jobs waiting, only one family among the roughly 300 people at the Mississippi Coliseum relief center accepted a ride north.
And they had relatives in Dubuque.
"I walked around the center and there were big–screen TVs, three full semi–trucks pulled up serving pizza out the windows, medical areas, basketball courts and balloon tying and activities for the kids," Widbin said Wednesday. "The meal line was huge, like a big church buffet."
A member of Grace Bible Church in Wever, Widbin organized the bus trip with help from his congregation and the faithful at Harmony Bible Church in Danville. Trailways Bus System in West Burlington donated use of a bus.
This was no fly–by–the–seat–of–your–pants mission. About 50 families from the two churches had agreed to welcome evacuees into their homes. Additional apartments were set aside if needed. And several businesses were ready to hire people fleeing the hurricane.
Widbin worked with a sheriff from the Jackson area for three days prior to the trip to make sure everything was in order.
"She said, 'Oh, come on down, we'll have no trouble filling your bus,' " he said.
The sheriff spoke on the radio, appeared on TV and posted fliers around the shelter promoting the Iowa effort. But when the time came to leave, most evacuees preferred to stay.
"The people had it so good," said Widbin, who returned home Monday night. "They were just so comfortable."
Most families living in the center had evacuated before Hurricane Katrina hit, Widbin said.
The bus carried a load of relief supplies, gathered in large part by an African–American church in Burlington, that were loaded on a truck in Mississippi and sent further south to the Gulf Coast.
Not one to quit easily, Widbin wanted to look elsewhere when he realized people in Jackson were not excited about a move to the Midwest.
But when he asked about nearby relief centers, the top Red Cross official in the city did not know the locations.
"... The size and bureaucracy and territorialism within the Red Cross just really encumbered our ability to take action," Widbin said.
The largess heaped on the evacuees also left Widbin wondering: What happens when the philanthropy ends?
"There is no way the volunteers and the businesses can continue to provide that level of service and facilities for more than a couple of weeks," he said. "When the Red Cross goes to close the center, if the mentality of the people is, 'The government will take care of us,' and not to go out and fix the problems themselves, then you are going to hear a clamor when the services disappear."
The two churches are hardly alone in their failed generosity. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said last week his state would welcome 5,000 evacuees from the Gulf Coast. As of Tuesday, only about 40 had arrived.
Widbin is on the hook for the diesel burned on the run south. And he still feels the clinch of disappointment from accomplishing so little.
But he has found reasons to be thankful.
There was the pleasure of watching his 15–year–old son Jeremy, who went along on the trip, play with the children in the relief center and interact with the police officers standing watch.
There was the joy of meeting that lone family that did come to Iowa.
And there is the comfort of believing he acted on God's will, no matter what the outcome.
"We saw a need, we acted, and we did it in faith," he said. "There's nothing else I can say."
Hate to say it, but this is sorta like the Cuban Boat Lift. Katrina has released the welfare wards of the state of LA upon all of us.
You think the libs are howling now. Just wait a few weeks and see what happens when the money for this sort of treatment runs out. Its going to sound like ten million three-year-olds just had their lollipops taken away.
I look at the $2,000 giveaway as a bribe. With that kind of money they're going to move out of the shelter and spend the money. When they return, sorry, shelter's closed.
It will be here soon too. Maybe a month before we have to bring out the snow shovels and winter parka's. If anyone comes here they won't have much time to settle in before they get hit with their first winter blizzard experience.
Houston ping!
Those are the people who operate under the adage "Lead, follow or get out of the way." and the MSM is mostly in the way in those situations.
And they all want that 2,000.00 debit card!
Let's see, this guy went to Jackson and then turned around and went home? Does he really, honestly think all the evacuees/refugees have it like this? Hardly.
As somebody else mentioned, part of the reason people aren't leaving to move hundreds or even thousands of miles away is that some of these folks either have something to go back to when they can, or they want to go back and see what's left. Poor or rich, black or white (or whatever), these places are their homes. They want to go back home, not to Nebraska or Iowa (many Southerners have an absolute aversion to snow and sub-zero temperatures).
The folks who have come to my part of Virignia invaribly have a connection here already, such as family or friends. The evacuated students who enrolled in the nearby university ALL have a Virginia connection.
They can also smell the money that's going to be poured into NO. Some will have lots of money to rebuild their homes, and also be able to earn alot from all the other work going on in the city. There will be good money to be made, no doubt about it. And it will all just get washed away again. Let's not forget, this wasn't even a direct hit. Sooner or later there will be one.
This morning I read that Vicente Fox is urging Bush to "allow" a bunch more Mexicans in to rebuild NO. Wouldn't surprise me if that's exactly what happens.
That's an interesting thought - if the PCers allow us to consider it - what will happen when it's time for the refugees (survivors or whatever they want to be called - zoinks, is that racist too??!) to leave the refuge? I wonder if there will be resistance to that?
No, just the Naive seeing the REAL WORLD for what it really is.
Not to denigrate the offers from others, but if I had to leave my home, I would still be trying to find somewhere closer to home and more like home than Iowa.
I'm willing to them a few days to deal with the shock, make some decisions. Then they can move forward. Most of these folks would prefer to have their old lives back rather than living in a shelter somewhere. In time, they will have to decide where to go when the shelters close. When they have to move, they will move.
Do you really begrudge them the TVs and basketball goals? I don't. Not for now.
The first of that post came from a Houston paper..Liberal one at that..What they are not telling you is how some of these people are demanding things and if they don't get it watch out..Lots of people going nuts when they were told they would get free money vouchers..Pushing the elderly aside and cutting in line..You won't hear any of this in the liberal paper though...I could go on and on but won't..
I agree when rebuilding starts. There will be more than enough work to do there. I think a case could be made to refuse unemployment to anyone living in NO when rebuilding starts. There will be no shortage of jobs, and no reason to live there if you aren't helping rebuild.
bump
Reports are now coming out from the Red Cross, Salvation Army and FEMA, who were prepared BEFORE the storm hit to truck in food, water and port-a-potties into the Superdome, stating that the governor of Louisiana would not allow then to do so. She has also put a gag order on her national guardsmen who are not allowed to say when they were ordered into action by the governer.
The state and local officials in Louisiana failed miserably, they to follow their own disaster plans and blamed the President Bush and FEMA for the results.
Nam Vet
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